36 Table 22 Mean RBC, Hemoglobin, MCH, and Reticulocyte Levels by Age and Sex, 1959 Rongelap exposed Rongelap control 4.46 (2) 9.15 (4) 4.31+£0.36 (9) 4.6 +£0.5 (22) 4.8 +0.5 (44) 4.4 +0.4 (53) RBC (107°), Males age 5-15 >15 Females >5 Hgb., g, Males age 5-15 > 15 Females >>5 12.3 40.5 (10) 14.4 £1.3 (19) 12.5 +0.95 (31) 12.2 (2) 15.4 (4) 13.2 +£0.87 (9) 13.1 41.1 (22) 14.8 +1.8 (44) 12.9 42.1 (52) MCH, upg, Males age 5-15 28.0 43.3 (10) 27.7 (2) 28.5 1.9 (22) 0.05 0.3 0.17 (2) (4) (7) Females Retic., %, 4.45+0.5* (10) ** 4.7140.4 (19) 4.21+0.4 (31) Ailingnae exposed >15 >35 30.8 42.5 (19) 29.8 +3.3 (31) Males age 5-15 215 Females >>5 0.13 0.31 0.21 30.0 (4) 30.5 +£1.9 (9) ( 9) (15) (23) 30.7 43.4 (44) 29.4 +:2.7 (52) 0.29 0.43 0.41 (17) (42) (48) *Standard deviation. **The numbers in parenthese are the numbersof people in the groups. The explanation is not clear. However, it wasfelt that the erythrocyte counts done on the Coulter the left, which indicates a slight tendency toward microcytosis. tion of erythropoetic function. 100 ml serum in only 5 persons, all unexposed. Serum Protein. Serum protein levels in 1959 were again higher than normal in manycases. electronic counter, and the hemoglobin andreticulocyte counts, were sufficient indices for evaluaErythrocytes and Hemoglobins. The mean levels of erythrocytes and hemoglobins (Table 22) were generally somewhat below those accepted as Serum Iron. Serum iron levels were <_100 pg/ The range in the exposed group was 6.6 to 8.4 g lower in the exposed Rongelap population than in with a mean of 7.45, and in the unexposed group from 6.6 to 9.0 g with a mean of 7.55. Comments. The peripherallevels of blood ele- and 43) of the individual red cell counts plotted by age for exposed people of both sexes show more of the counts below the averagelevel of the unexposed group than aboveit, and a plot of percentage cumulative distribution of counts (Figure 44) showsthe curve for the exposed groupdistinctly displaced to theleft. year to year. The explanation is not known. One might speculate that, since upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections are common, the temporal relationship of the hematological examinations to periods of bacterial infection might strongly influence the general level of certain elements, particularly the leukocytes. It is not known whether nae people (a group of 15 who had received an enced. As pointed out, the influenza epidemic in average for Americans and were only slightly the unexposed group. Scattergrams (Figures 42 Ailingnae Blood Counts. Counts in the Ailing- estimated 69 r from fallout) are summarized in Tables 21 and 22 and in Appendix 2, and the individual counts are shown in Appendices 3 and 4. These counts generally averaged slightly higher than in the exposed Rongelap people but lower than in the unexposed people. Price-Jones Curves. Price-Jones curvesfor determination of red cell size distribution on 17 Rongelap people (exposed and unexposed) were averaged and compared with an averaged curve for 53 Americans of the same age group (Figure 45). The Marshallese curveis displacedslightly to ments have shown considerable fluctuation from the drop in 1960 leukocyte levels was so influ- early 1960 apparently spared Rongelap Atoll. Since hematological examinations were not done on the unexposed group in 1960, it was not possible to evaluate exposed levels with relation to radiation effects. The only blood elements at 5 years post expo-’ sure that showed slightly lower levels in the exposed group werethe platelets and erythrocytes. Erythrocyte counts had not been done before 1959. Re-examination of earlier hematocrit levels by construction of scattergrams and cumulative distribution curves showed a slight tendencyfor